Die Schwan und Die Rabe
by ArkanianHyde
Summary: In the end, the Son of Land and the Daughter of the Lake danced a pas de deux, hearts connected and flowing as one. It was another happy ending. But at what cost? Tutu vs.Claire  edited the chapter content. story's the same though
1. Chapter 1

_0o0o0_

_Once upon a time, the youngest daughter of the sea laid eyes on a son of the land. The princess immediately fell in love with the prince. One day, during the festivities on board of a royal ship, the prince's company had fallen prey to pirates. The prince, his heart pure and brave, fought bravely against his foes whose own hearts were as black as ravens. But despite his efforts, in the midst of battle, the prince had fallen overboard, and sank deeper and deeper into the abyss. The prince's knight had seen him fall, but, aware of the troubles on the ship, did not follow him, knowing that his lord was better off sinking deeper and deeper unaware of the battle on the surface. _

_The princess, unlike the knight, could not watch as the prince drifter deeper into darkness. She could not see him suffer and die. She swore she would save him, no matter how difficult the task. _

_He had survived, much to the delight of the princess. Still, she could only watch on even as he lay in the hands of another princess. One, she saw, was more suited for him than she. _

_She was determined however, to be alongside him, although she knew she could not be with him. She knew her desires, and she knew of a way she could fulfil them. She allied herself with a witch, who gave her what she wanted. She would now be recognised as a child of the land. She would now walk on the land that her prince walked on. But there were conditions to be wary of. She could not talk of her love for him, or she would exist no longer. For this, she was silenced, for she knew that though she would not say it, her voice would betray her love for him, and she would die._

_Instead, she committed herself to dance. In dance she could express her love freely and still live alongside her Love._

_But what happens when she must speak of her love to save her Love... _

0o0o0

As Fakir fell once again into the depth of the underground lake, Tutu watched, aware that there was nothing she could do to help him. Not that he would want it. He had fulfilled his purpose. Mytho's heart would remain completed as it was thus far.

"No matter," Claire sniffed. "Come out, oh piece of my beloved Mytho's Heart." A transparent form of Mytho had emerged beside the Raven Princess, his hand protectively placed over his own heart, as he looked expectantly at the Swan Princess. "Speak your love to your heart's content." She rose even as her heart pounded. She knew the consequences of what Claire was demanding of her. Like the daughter of the sea, she was forced into silence about her love for her prince. It could cost her her very existence if she confessed her deepest secret. But, like the daughter of the sea, she was given a way out of her contract. She would continue to exist if she renounced her prince. Her magic blade was her confession of love to the prince. jyu

She was torn between her life and her Love. Speak of her love for Mytho, and disappear from the Earth forever, or remain silent, and watch as he suffers in the same emptiness that plagued him before her efforts to return his heart.

Still, she was determined. And she loved. That, she knew, would be her greatest strength.

Claire smirked. "So you've finally made the decision to disappear?"

"I will not disappear." She stretched out a hand to the prince, to his heart, inviting him to dance. As always, she invited him to dance, to bring his heart closer to her.

As always, as she did every time, as she did for her prince and for her love, she danced. And her dance was as fluid as the sea, as graceful as the swan princess, that as a duck she wished to be.

_I cannot speak of my love for you but, I have the ability to dance. _

_Surely this can convey my feelings._

"Just who will draw the prince to her?"

The Princess whose heart was as black as the ravens she controlled joined her. Though each was as graceful as her counterpart, though each danced toward the same goal, through they danced together, neither was connected to the other, but as rivals. It was a veritable battle. One of will, one of heart and one of truth.

"You're just borrowing Princess Tutu's power, after all. You're not a real Princess, Ahiru." Claire smirked as the girl's faltered. The prince was a son of the land. And the son of the land had ended up with a real princess, despite the Princess's Love for him.

Ahiru was no more part of this world as the Sea Daughter was part of her own prince's world.

_I'm just a Duck... Even as a girl I was a terrible student... _

_Who was dancing now? Ahiru? Tutu?_

Her confusion caused her to pause, subjecting her to the mocking of the Raven Princess, the Real Princess, Princess Claire.

Still, she was Tutu, and she would try.

The Heart of the Prince, however, was drawn to the dance of Claire. And the Prince's love only knew the raven winged girl. "I am your princess." Claire had won. Mytho's Heart was now hers.

Tutu looked on, helplessly. The Prince, no, Mytho had chosen his Love. His princess was Claire and Ahiru's place was no longer beside him. He no longer had eyes for Tutu, the one who had risked everything to save him from drowning in his emotionless darkness. The Sea Princess had ceased to exist in the Land Prince's world or in her own world, in the end. Still, Tutu knew that that was not her story. The Sea Princess and Princess Tutu were different. Their stories were different. While the Princess had given up, Tutu resolved herself to continue to save her Prince.

_My Feelings are My Own, so _

"Right now, I am Princess Tutu!"

_I would not give up!_

And so began her dance. Like the Daughter whose legs and heart ached with her desire to express the love she could not say, she danced.

_I would just turn back into a duck. _

Her grace was not like the sea, but like the lake. The lake Ahiru, the girl, dreamed of. The Lake, among whose reeds Ahiru, the duck, waited every night, wishing to see the mute prince dance across its surface. She danced like the soft lapping of the water that moved rhythmically, silently keeping time of the music of the song that the Prince danced to, the same song that played in Tutu's heart, even as Mytho's Love remained out of her reach.

A Pas de Deux, a dance for two. But these two remained separated, although their fates had been connected even by a force beyond them.

As the Prince of the Lake had done, she danced a Pas de Deux, without her partner.

_I want you to be here. I want you to show me your smile. I want you to dance with me. I want you to support me firmly, yet gently._

As the Princess of the Lake, she danced for her partner.

"But what will you do for the parts you can't dance by yourself?" Claire asked haughtily.

_The real Me is just a powerless Duck, but with you here, I can Change!_

She jumped, arching her back preparing for an absent partner to catch her. As she hit the floor she rose, determined in her actions. Sure in her confession.

_And the Prince's Heart watched!_

She turned slowly, gracefully, as if guided by the gentle touch of the partner who danced with another.

_The feeling I get when I see you is what turns me into Princess Tutu. I want to protect you. I'm sure that you never wanted to lose your heart. _

_Smiling, crying, loving someone; in order to protect someone's happiness, you threw all of that away. _

_When you had such a kind heart, that was the real you-_

_-I love you that way. _

She looked at the prince.

Mytho raised his hand, as if accepting her invitation to dance. And as he walked closer to the edge of the lake. Both princesses saw the same thing.

_His Heart was Restored!_

"I am right here, Princess Tutu."

0o0o0

_Once upon a time, a prince found his kingdom under attack by ravens, birds with hearts as black as night. The prince, his heart pure and brave, fought bravely against his foes, alongside his faithful knight, who had fallen in battle. Acting out of love for his people, the prince shattered his own heart, in order to seal the Raven king away, and thus forfeited everything that made him the prince that he was._

_Also the prince had a princess, though she existed only in legend. Despite living in his heartless existence, some faint memory of her existed, for at any chance, he asked about her, desiring to know more and more about her. His guardians, merely two children, grew uneasy when he spoke about this princess._

_Now, a daughter of the lake, a little duck, laid eyes on a son of the land. The duck immediately fell in love with the prince. She would watch him silently, wishing she could dance with him, wishing that she could cure his loneliness. But she knew she was a Duck._

_Their paths could never cross, but for the nighttime ballets._

_However, one day, a voice spoke to her. The Man from the Darkness spoke, asking if she would save the prince. She would, she answered. She knew she would, given the first chance._

_Her wish was granted. The Duck, the Lake's Child, could now live alongside the son of the Land. She would live alongside, learn and speak with the Prince she loved. But she could not speak of her love for the prince._

_Still, she was satisfied._

_Until the need to save him arose._

_Through her desire to save him, the child of the lake connected her destiny with that of the Prince. She was the princess that he desired. She was Princess Tutu. And Tutu would restore the Prince's Shattered Heart._

_Yet, something troubled him. She was the princess he wished to see, and with each encounter she brought him pain. His heart ached for her. His heart ached because of her. She was its cure, yet it saw her as its bane._

_The Prince's Guardians cared deeply for their ward, yet each knew the other could not be trusted. Nonetheless, seeing the Prince in pain, they each vowed to protect him in their own way. He would shatter the Prince's Heart, while keeping both girls away from him. She would kill Tutu, while keeping the prince firmly in her grasp._

_It just so happened, that the boy who guarded the Prince was a reincarnation of the fallen knight, and was destined to fall again, if Princess Tutu continued to restore the prince's heart, for he knew the Raven king wanted it for his own. To prevent this, as well as to save his own life, he wanted to shatter the prince's heart again._

_However, the knight did not shatter his lord's heart. He found that he was too weak to do so. Instead he allied himself with Tutu, the very person he protected his lord from, in an attempt to save him._

_For the second guardian was none other than the daughter of the Raven King, whom the king used to get what he desired._

_She managed to get the final piece of the Prince's Heart, as well as the Prince himself, despite the knight's efforts. In a final attempt to save him, the knight shattered the sword that would be the Prince's Undoing._

_Tutu watched as her ally and friend fell at the hands of the Ravens. But seeing his final action, she steeled herself to defeat the Raven Princess, even if it cost her her life._

"_Speak of your love for him, and you will have what you want."_

_Tutu could not speak of her love, or else cease to exist._

_But she could dance._

_Dancing to express her feelings, dancing to speak her heart, braving injury, and a faltering heart she got her wish._

_In the end, the Prince's heart was restored, and Princess Tutu survived to dance with him. The Son of Land and the Daughter of the Lake danced a pas de deux, hearts connected and flowing as one._

_It was another happy ending._

_But at what cost?_

0o0o0


	2. Chapter 2

_0o0o0_

_The Swan Queen looked on at the Prince at the side of the lake, bow in hand. Despite the danger she saw from the hunting equipment, she knew he could be her salvation, for she could see no evil in his eyes. As night fell her secret was revealed to the Prince. Right before his eyes, she was transformed into a beautiful woman, no older than himself, with hair as smooth as silk, and skin that was alabaster white._

_She was one of many girls that a sorcerer had enchanted. Every day they were turned to swans, and every night they would be able to retain their original forms. However, they were only allowed to stay in the lake which was formed by the tears of their parents. _

_The prince, however, could save them. _

_Only a man of pure heart could break the spell, for if such a man confesses his love for the Swan Queen, the spell over her could be broken. _

_Alas, it was not to be. _

_The Prince was taken away from her, and betrothed to another. The Swan Queen's heart broke, for how could the spell be broken? How could she escape her prison? _

0o0o0

She knew the truth.

Rue was Princess Claire. She was the Daughter of the Monster Raven. She knew it. She hated it. Yet she needed Claire's Powers to save herself and Mytho. So she quickly accepted her raven side. After securing a bit of the Raven in the Heart shard, and capturing Princess Tutu, her plan was almost completed. Her father could have the Prince's Heart, and she would have Mytho. As Siegfried was Odette's redemption, Mytho would be Rue's.

For who was Claire, but her own Swan Form?

Even Odette used the wings she was forced to have.

And yet, one thing worked against her. Her Odile. Tutu.

She knew Princess Tutu was none other than Ahiru, the same girl who looked up to her, who talked to her innocently, the same girl who wanted to be friends with Rue. But like Odile, it was Ahiru who Rue's Prince saw as his princess. But Rue had been there since the beginning. She had talked to Mytho. She had cared for Mytho, and yet, he only had eyes for Tutu.

But unlike Odette, she would not cry. No. She had Mytho, she had his heart.

Tutu watched in tears as Fakir endured pain, humiliation and eventually, death, from the skilled swordsmanship from her Raven Knights. The Prince's Knights had been a threat to the Swans, as he was to her. Now that he had fallen, Odile could be taken care of.

Tutu had looked at her, determination in her eyes after Fakir's fall. There was something else too. Love? Whatever it was, it would give her strength. But no matter. Rue was just as strong. And a strong will and heart will draw the Prince to her.

"Come out, oh piece of my beloved Mytho's Heart." The final piece of heart was drawn to her already. The final piece, love, was hers to command. Soon, she would have all of it. Once Tutu is destroyed, Rue could have her prince.

"Now Princess Tutu, Speak your love to your heart's content." Claire smiled haughtily. There was fear in Tutu. She could see it. The girl rose to her feet. Claire hugged herself smugly. "So you've finally made the decision to disappear,"

"No, I will not disappear." Claire stiffened. Tutu invited the Prince's Heart to join her. She began to dance. Rue paused, unsure of what was to come.

As Tutu continued to dance she understood- Tutu had found a loophole. She could not speak of her love. But speech was not the only way to communicate a message. "By passing up words and conveying your love through dance, you're saying you won't disappear, right?" But Claire was just as good, if not better at Dance, than Princess Tutu.

"Just who will draw the prince to her?"

She joined her rival, using her own style, the style of the Raven Princess, to draw the Piece of heart, and Mytho to her. Like Tutu, she had a goal. Like Tutu, it involved Mytho. Unlike Tutu, she had a reason to get Mytho. Rue was connected to Mytho. Tutu- Ahiru- was not. For that, she danced. Swans were territorial. Black Swans were viciously so.

"You're just borrowing Princess Tutu's power, after all. You're not a real Princess, Ahiru." She had struck true to her target. She knew Tutu was Ahiru, and now Ahiru knew her secret was out. A bumbling student who was threatened with remedial classes was Tutu. As the girl faltered, Claire used it to her advantage, refining her techniques, each move smoother than the last.

She held out her hand, inviting the piece of heart to come to her. It willingly accepted the invitation. Claire smiled. And now... "I am your Princess." Odette had won. Princess Claire had won. Rue had won. Mytho's heart was hers.

"I won't give up." Claire looked at Tutu, and scoffed. What more could she do?

"Right now, I am Princess Tutu!"

With that, she began to dance, in a pathetic attempt to win Mytho's heart back.

But a Pas de Deux? She was alone, but she perfectly executed each move as if guided by the hands of an experienced partner. As Tutu danced, Claire could almost hear the message she was trying to convey through this pas de deux.

"_I would just turn back into a duck. _

"_I want you to be here. I want you to show me your smile. I want you to dance with me. I want you to support me firmly, yet gently._

No. She could not accept that. Princess Tutu was to die. She was to be a victim of unrequited love. Claire had already won. Mytho's heart was in Rue's Pas de Deux, while Ahiru danced alone.

And there were parts she couldn't do on her own, weren't there?

"But what will you do for the parts you can't dance by yourself?" Claire asked haughtily.

"_The real Me is just a powerless Duck, but with you here, I can Change!_

And they continued to dance.

But that jump. It was perfect, flawlessly executed. Rue's heart skipped a beat. It was almost as if Tutu had a partner to dance with. It was as if, the dance was a half of a whole.

"There's no need for you to watch her dance." _Only look at me. We are connected, in fate, in heart, in dance. There is no need, My Prince, My Mytho, so please, please look this way._

"_The feeling I get when I see you is what turns me into Princess Tutu. I want to protect you. I'm sure that you never wanted to lose your heart. _

_Smiling, crying, loving someone; in order to protect someone's happiness, you threw all of that away. _

_When you had such a kind heart, that was the real you-_

Even as Rue tried to turn his gaze to her, Mytho only had eyes for Princess Tutu.

Their ideals for Mytho were different. Yet what both girls had to say was the same.

_-I love you that way. _

Claire turned to the Prince on the bank of the lake.

Mytho raised his hand, not to Claire, not to Rue, but to Princess Tutu. It was her invitation that he accepted, not Rue's. She stood, her hand gripping the final piece of heart as he walked closer to the edge of the lake. Both princesses saw the same thing.

"I am right here, Princess Tutu."

Her heart fell as the final piece left.

"The victory is yours. Why can't my feelings reach him?"

Face covered in her hands, Claire left the lake, allowing for the second part of her plan to take place. Yet even though she expected it, it still hurt. She loved him, and he had chosen someone else over her. Odette would not escape her prison it seemed. No prince could reach her now. Not even her own, since his heart was now tainted by the Raven's blood.

0o0o0

_Once upon a time, a young princess was born to the Raven King. Yet, despite her raven blood, the princess was cursed with the filthy human form that her father despised. It was after all, a human prince that imprisoned him ages ago. Still for all his cruelty toward her for her human shape, she loved her father and would do anything to help him. _

_She would even renounce her own desires for freedom from the injustice done to her in birth, and manipulate the prince that she loved, (and the same prince that imprisoned her father) to free the one who had raised her willingly. _

_For she had loved him since childhood, the strange man with empty and unquestioning eyes. He saved her from a flock of ravens that chased her for being as a human, and immediately she fell in love with him. But there was another. A Boy. The boy had been the one to find this stranger, and who had given him the strange name. Mytho. (Mytho- a silence of the heart, its desires untold to the world, for there was no heart for the different desires to live in.) Still, heart or no heart, she loved him. She loved him enough to work as hard as she did, simply for him to look at her. "So have eyes for me alone, Mytho, as I have eyes alone for you." (And he would answer yes, with those empty, unquestioning eyes looking straight at her)_

_The boy was another strange one. He controlled Mytho as if he were a toy. But Mytho was a person. The princess kept Mytho out of the grip of the boy, out of jealousy at first, but when she learned that he was the Prince's Knight, it was dangerous for him to see the boy. She guarded him as jealously as before, but her hold was more rigid. _

_There was one other person who was more of a threat than the Prince's Knight. The Prince's Princess, though a legend, though unrelated in any way to them, save for his questions about her, could take Mytho away. She would be the one to restore his heart. When that happened, the Princess would be revealed as a Raven. Her love would be for nothing. Still it was all nothing but a legend, for the Swan Princess existed only in storybooks. _

"_What can you tell me about the Swan?" "Do you know about the Prince and the Raven?" these questions could not be! Why was that girl, the girl with mannerisms like a Duck asking questions like that? And why did Mytho? _

_It seemed that both guardians heard the same questions. Did it mean anything? _

_It meant that the Swan Princess had come._

_And now, the Raven Princess had to work. _

_Though she failed to get the other pieces of Heart before they were restored, she managed to get a hold of one. The Final piece. Love. Given to the person one most cares about. Mytho wanted to give it to the Swan. But the Raven Princess had a plan. "Give me the gem, and I will prepare it for the one you want to give it to." Innocently the prince gave it to the Princess, willing to wait until he next saw the Swan. _

_Using a feather from her father's wing the Raven enchanted the heart shard, infecting it with raven's blood. Now, with a heart thriving on raven's blood, Mytho would be hers. When he gives the gem to the Swan she would be captured, unable to move, unable to fully restore the Prince's Heart. _

_The Swan cried out in pain, as she was bound by thorny vines, wailed when the prince was spirited away. The Raven Princess laughed. The swan would come. She and the Prince's Beloved knight. It was all arranged. _

_She was ready for a fight when the Swan Princess and the knight came. She knew the knight would fall, cut down by the Ravens. Even after his final act – smashing the Prince's sword to ensure that his heart could be restored by the Swan – he was finished. The swan could be just as easily defeated, "Speak of your love for him, and you will cease to exist in this world" _

_(Now I have to say, that for those who sympathise for a Princess with a fate such as our Raven Princess's, I, too, would like nothing more than a happy ending for her and her Prince. For her suffering and her unrequited, but never-ending love, she deserves nothing more than a life with her prince, away from the cruelty of the Raven King. Sadly, however, our Raven Princess does not get these things. At least, not during this chapter of her life)_

_The Swan Princess would not speak. But she would dance. Her love would be expressed in the language of the dance. The Raven Princess danced too, matching the elegance of the Swan, each vying for the Heart of the Prince. Yet, the Swan danced, quietly, gently, softly. The music to which she danced matched Mytho's perfectly. Although disconnected, the two melded together, dancing a Pas de deux, a dance for two._

_In the end, the Swan had won the Prince. "The victory is yours. Why can't my feelings reach him?" Her words hung in the air, heavy with sadness, for though planned, she felt doomed to forever see her love in the arms of another._


End file.
